Bonneville America Forums Forums Rider Safety Forums Riding Technique What hits first on a TBS or TBA?

A nasty subject to bring up, but for all those poor readers that have been unfortunate to lay their prized machine down, what type of damage can one expect and are there any accessories out there like crash or engine bars that can lesson the damage?

First thing to get bunged-up would be levers , turn signals , ends of grips and mufflers . Engine guards may protect the side cases , but not much more .
Outriggers are very good to avert the horizontal bop .

Just get insurance. If you are unlucky enough to have a spill then it will be covered. Crash bars can sometimes cause more problems apart from looking ugly.
Spend your money on a good helmet and riding gear cause you cannot be so easily repaired.

Ive never dropped mine but in a more severe "drop" Ive noticed those pumpkin lights dent the tank every time!

Engine guards help protect... well, the engine! They will protect the headers too. Remember, dropping a bike is not always about going down... it can be about things like forgetting to put the kickstand down. Right Friar?

Thanks for your thoughts and ideas guys. It's just that 2 months ago I went over the handlebars of my '71 Tiger on a low speed tumble and all the damage bill came to was a scuffed foot peg rubber and a broken indicator lens. Not a nice situation to be in just 3 months after a double knee replacement. Anyway with no damage to my new knees I was hoping my America might be equally robust if it decided to throw me?

Each accident is different!! IT depends if you hit something, or something hits you!! Even while walking, I step into a pot hole and jam my back other times I can jump or fall several feet and I'm fine(no jokes please)

Dang Steven you made it that easy and want us to NOT make a joke or two.

The footboards catch my speedy in the yard...
but I did manage to snap a clutch lever off last year..

You guys should quit riding while you are hopped up on goof balls.

I once hit a deer with my old 77 yammie 750... The deer dove between my front wheel and engine.. Lifted the bike up and it laid down on the deer and slid. Only damage was a broken turn signal. YES. I got lucky. V.

Mirrors. Nough said.

If you are going @ 50 miles an hour with only a nano-second to react before an impact is imminent. It will not matter.

Ask me why.

I can't remember exactly how many times I've laid my Speedmaster down, but even when parked (forgot to put the sidestand down more than a couple of times, forgot to unlock the steering head once, fell over in Chy's driveway{?}), the usual things are the mirrors, pumpkins, pipes, and foot control levers, and light bar lights. I've scratched a mirror or two, scratched a bar end cap, have a couple of very small dents in the left side of the tank, and the driving lights bend up. Everything usually straightens back out with a little hand massage, except for the dents and scratches.

I've also gone down 3 times, while riding (twice in Georgia). I broke off a mirror at the top of the stem year before last, as well as bending the foot control bar, which we (Chy, Wojo, Moe) were able to "shim out" with an allen wrench as the shim until we could get to the next town and find a hardware store and buy some small washers to use as shims. That, and bending out the shift lever worked like new and got me back to Texas. (I then changed the bar, thanks to another generous member for helping supply that).

I can tell you, these are some tough motorcycles, and will withstand more abuse than you might think, with a little luck thrown in, of course. I bought mirrors from our Classifieds after scratching one early on, and never used them until after getting back from Georgia missing one year before last. The foot control bar and mirrors are the only parts I can recall having had to replace (due to going down). The pumpkins, switchgear, driving lights, brake pedal and shift lever are all malleable enough to just bend back out and straighten and adjust to suit.

I've wanted the triangular crash bars because I know they are a good solid mount, do not detract from the look of the bike, are not too expensive and fairly easy to install, but I have to admit that so far I've been lucky and my engine cases haven't suffered much despite me.

Your results may vary......

If the tank is dented (by the handlebars), fork stops might be blown out.

Muffler, peg, knee, thigh, bar end, mirror, elbow, shoulder, head... pretty much in that order.

Thanks Blackwind, some helpful information in there for me.
Cheers
JQ

I would say that I depends very much on where you are hit or on what side you drop the bike.

The recent hit I had was difficult to tell the damage as I couldn't stand and see the bike and I was in the ambulance in about 5 minutes or so it seemed.

Most of the impact was on my ankle so I was glad I had some armoured kevlar boots on, but from just dropping it from approx 35mph I could make out both mirrors, bent handlebar, dented tank, bent gear shifter plus the bike didn't seem to be sitting right when it was put on the side stand but I only had a quick glimpse of someone doing that.

The insurance engineer who saw the bike just told me beyond economic repair so there must have been some frame/ engine/ engine mount issue there.

The only thing was I didnt really see was too much pipe damage which I thought would have been a dead cert.

Th only thing was the car had pushed the bike across the other side of the road and that had hit the kerb over there so exactly how the bike landed was a bit of a mystery as I went over the bonnet (hood) of the car first before coming to a stop on the floor.

I would just say make sure you have in addition to decent insurance, a decent helmet, some form of decent bike jacket/trousers and a decent pair of boots.

If id just been riding in trainers or shoes I certainly don't think I'd be moaning about a swollen n bruised ankle but no ankle at all.

Some of you guys shuld get training wheels

Okay John, The one time my speedy did hit the road was due to being impacted from behind by a car whilst I was stationary on the bike. The bike was thrust forward violently and then I went down on the lefthand side. Apart from the obvious damage to the rear which I wont go into, it sustained a scraped muffler, bent handle bars, bent foot peg, bent gear lever, scratched indicater, scratched mirror and scratched headlight rim. I managed to keep my left leg under the bike cushioning its fall. ( Note to self : try not to do that next time. )

I almost thought you had fallen outta love with me for a minute

I had the bad luck to slide Steelheart down the road on its
right side at 65mph. Luckily, it didn't flip. The damage to
me was chronicled here, but the damage to my Speedy was:
Both r-side turn signals trashed (replaced for $50 from BA member, Thanks Matthew)
R mirror scraped (not broken- still use it)
Ball-end of brake lever scraped- sanded smooth, still use it
Hero-blob on footpeg half worn through
Portion of passenger peg worn down by pivot- still useable
Brake pedal bent (straightened right out)
Both throttle cables worn through at grip (the only other thing I had to replace)
Two small dings in tank- left there to promote future wisdom
(mostly successful)

Keep in mind I run 16" shorty mufflers. If they were the kind
that extends back to the axle, there would have been muffler damage.

Thanks Brian.
These machines appear to be tough little suckers then?
Looks like a bit of Meriden DNA may have carried over to the Hinkley gene pool?

With me it was the front wheel, but that's cos I had a car pull across my path.... and it buggered the forks, brake res bracket, etc etc....

And I've dropped the 09. That got off lightly with a bent brake lever, I got some nice bruises... I did have full panniers on and they saved a lot....

It's good to see you around here again, Gina. And so sorry to hear about your dropping the '09. What happened there... hit some ice on the way to work or something (I know you ride in seriously cold weather so it could be a possibility)?

I don't know that it matters so much what part of the bike hits first, so much as what part of you hits first.

your pride!

Pride can definately be damaged.

Does the load hit the seat of yourpants first or your pride hit the pit of your stomache first?

i think you prarrie dog first!

If the G-force is strong enough ...and you survive ..the question is entirely academic if not silly in and of itself.